Bottom Line: A nice makeover of a small local park. Parents will appreciate the fully fenced perimeter, shade and the upgraded equipment -- all ages of kids can have fun here. Lack of a water fountain and bathroom are the only minuses. 3/5 stars.

The Review:

I have an older review of Lincoln Park on my site, but the park has been closed since last summer, when a car crash severely damaged the playground equipment. The park has been renovated with new equipment and just re-opened this May. I stopped by with all three of my kids on a sunny afternoon and we were all delighted with the new changes.

The new playground equipment features a woodland theme, very similar to “Chessie’s Big Backyard” at Lee District park. Not surprising, since the same company is behind both projects.

Similar to before, the playground has two play structures — one for older kids (ages 5-12) and one for younger kids (ages 2-5).

The larger/big kid structure looks like a tree fort and features two different slides.

My kids loved exploring all the ways to get to the top — from the cave-like entrance under the smaller slide, to scaling the outside of the tree, like a rock climber. The porthole and addition of life-like animals peeking out in the tree were fun touches.

The smaller play structure is simpler — a shorter slide with a few different ways to climb up and space to play under.

In between the two play structures there is a hollow log and some toadstools.

The basketball court remains unchanged — it’s a good place to work on your jump shot or ride your big wheel.

There are still four swings at the park but they too have been given a woodsy update. There are two regular swings, one baby/bucket swing, and one “chair swing”.

The chair swings are typically handicap-accessible swings, but it should be noted there is no safety strap or mechanism to keep a child contained, and the surface beneath is all mulch, which would be a hardship for wheelchairs.

The park retained the same small sandbox (with the same dirty sand), which kids still seem to enjoy. Some of the picnic tables have been converted into whimsical toadstool table tops and seats.

This park has always had an issue with drainage — it used be a swampy mess after a heavy rain. I’m happy to see the city has taken some measures to address this — the play areas are on an elevated surface with mulch, and a rain garden has been added to one corner to give rain runoff a place to be re-absorbed.

Overall, we all enjoyed the park and found the new design to be a big improvement. It was nice and shady on a sunny afternoon and there were plenty of benches in shady spots. A water fountain and bathroom would make a big improvement, but for a small local neighborhood park, it makes for a nice little outing.